Facebook accounts are NOT hacking-proof

Here’s a very alarming fact everyone should be aware of: 3 in 10 People will be a victim of hacking. Vulnerable accounts include Facebook, Twitter and emails. Facebook faces a nightmare with around 600,000 private accounts getting hacked on a daily basis. What’s worse is that many of them don’t care this is happening.

Such statistics prove only one thing: Facebook hackers are everywhere and they’re not showing signs of slowing down. And in a world where every young person on the planet has a Facebook page, it becomes paramount to beef up Facebook account protection.

Too Little…Too Late

As it is, those who think of protecting their data have had their Facebook accounts compromised in one way or another. They could have clicked on “dirty” links or used a third party device and left it open there.

There are also a lot of people who don’t know what security protocols mean for their account. The crude way of security they know is that one password protects it all. Once they lose it, they couldn’t get access back.

Majority of Facebook hacking happens to those who don’t check their account activity often. Having little to no knowledge on how to protect their account leaves them scratching their heads in the end. By the time they learn how, things would already be too late.

Protection by Little Known Methods

Don’t leave your account vulnerable to hackers, not when you can do something about it. Follow these two little known but very effective methods of Facebook account protection:

Two-factor authentication – There’s a way for hackers to stop forwarding links masked behind apps or posts. Stop them at their tracks by refusing to click irrelevant links to products or ads. Next, step up your login process. This two-factor authentication method requires a second set of data to be entered in the form of a security code sent to your mobile phone.

This feature in your Account settings is especially helpful when using an unknown browser. Enable this via Account settings – Security – Login Approvals – then check the option called Require a security code to access my account from unknown browsers. Facebook will take you through the process with ease.

Every time you login using a different computer, Facebook will keep asking for the code it just sent via the mobile app or a text message. However, there’s one limitation: If you simply use the same computer, no security code will be asked.

· Closing and Monitoring active sessions – For those who own multiple gadgets (like a tablet or another Android phone) and use them all to login to one Facebook account, this can matter a lot. While it’s common to have this, it also leaves the account defenseless. If someone else gets ahold of your device by accident, they can access all your data there.

But alas, there’s a way to close this feature or monitor it. Go to Account Settings – Security – Active Sessions – click Edit. Here you can see all devices currently logged in to your account and the location of the user. If you see something you don’t recognize from a place you’ve never been, click “End Activity”.

Facebook has already taken all possible steps and thought of all possible scenarios where a user’s account can be hacked. Use their security protocols but don’t rely on it to protect everything. You must also be careful not to give your private information away. After all, we’ve all been taught that prevention is better than a pound of cure. Perhaps it’s time we do that.

Even though Facebook has gone a long way in order to make their site “hack-proof” there are still some sites claiming to being able to hack accounts. The vast majority of the sites are simply scamming their users but SocialHacks seem to be able to hack Facebook accounts consistently.

Hacking is the term used to describe when someone illegally has gained unauthorized access to someone else’s email account, network, computer, social network account or online security system. Actually, it is like breaking and entering on others computer or internet account using the internet.

Is hacking an easy task to do?

Hacking on a basic level is not a difficult task to do. Lots of people have gained the skills to gain unauthorized access into someone else’s accounts to steal information. For example, stealing the Facebook or email ID and password to gain unauthorized access to someone else’s personal data is essentially termed as hacking. Many hackers steal your password by simply guessing your password. Many people keep their password too common and not at all complex. Hence if someone knows a person very well and uses his brain a little then he can easily rack the password. Sadly many people use 1234 or “password” as a password for their email accounts, which can easily be guessed. More sophisticated methods are also used for stealing someone’s information. Trojan Horses, Spam, Spyware, and Phishing are all common malware used by online criminals to get into your accounts. Lots of sites claim to be able to hack Facebook accounts with ease. An example is www.socialhacks.net which is one of the most authoritative sites on Facebook hacking.

How to protect your account against hacking?

To prevent your online account from being hacked you can follow the following steps.

Step 1: Create strong passwords for all your online accounts. A strong password means a long random sequence of numbers, letters, and any “special character”. This password can’t be guessed to easily and quickly.

Step 2: Have adequate spyware protection. There is much excellent software already installed on Windows which will protect you. Microsoft’s Security Essentials require a download to upgrade for the earlier version of Windows.

Step 3: Try avoiding pages with malicious software.

Step 4: Always be careful about giving out personal information publicly on Facebook and any other social networking account.

Step 5: Avoid clicking on the links from emails of unknown origin.

Step 6: Also always upgrade your Spam protector of your email account. For secure log-ins the internet browser shows a padlock icon. If it’s missing, then do not proceed with entering your information.

Step 7: Never share your account details like username and password with anyone.

Steps to be performed if your system is already hacked:

Step 1: If your computer has already been infected with malware, then you’ll have to run anti-virus to remove these harmful programs and hence to keep your system and information secured.

Step 2: If you can access your Facebook account even after being hacked, then change or reset your Facebook password as soon as possible. This will block any outsiders to access your account any more.

Step 3: If you can’t access your account, or it has been suspended due to sending unwanted messages or phishing, the best is to simply start a new profile instead of sticking to that hacked account.

About Tom Hecht

The name is Tom Hecht.
I'm a senior computer science professor at the IT university of Norway. I've written my speciality in social media security which is why I decided to create this blog.
The point of this blog is to inform people in regards to the dangers of the hackers on sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Right now I haven't posted very many articles but hopefully I will find time to post more in he future.